Award-winning author Jan Ellison returned to her former preparatory school, Flintridge Sacred Heart Academy on Feb. 4 to discuss her writing methods, experience and inspirations with students and staff.

Students, faculty and staff at San Gabriel Mission High School hosted a walk-athon on Feb. 5 in order to raise money for the Dominican Sisters of Mission San Jose’s Adult Day Care Center. They raised a total of $4,500.

This summer, high school students will study liturgy, music and liturgical arts in Los Angeles under the direction of The Liturgical Arts Ministry Project of Southern California (LAMP SoCal). The five-day workshop will be held from June 29 to July 3 with the theme, “For Ages Unending: The Ministry of Worship with Adolescents.”

The Expectant Mothers Outreach Office at Holy Innocents Church in Long Beach received an official inaugural blessing by pastor G. Peter Irving III on Ash Wednesday, Feb. 18. The pro-life office, which has been operating since October 2014, is staffed by Holy Innocents parish volunteers five days a week.

News around the World

A key player in working for the release of a Jesuit priest held by suspected Taliban militants in Afghanistan for eight months said Thursday the priest never lost hope and was confident in the efforts being made to secure his freedom.

The Daughters of Charity Health System (DCHS) may sell six failing Catholic hospitals to Prime Healthcare Services Inc. after California Attorney General Kamala D. Harris approved the controversial decision, contingent on detailed conditions. Harris made the decision on Feb. 20, the L.A. Times reports.

Statutes of the Vatican Council for Economy, Secretariat for the Economy, and General Auditor went into effect March 1, having been signed Feb. 22 by Msgr. Bryan Wells, assessor of the Secretariat of State.

The University of Notre Dame mourned the death of its former president Father Theodore Hesburgh, C.S.C., prompting outpourings of appreciation and remembrance for his deeply influential and sometimes controversial legacy.

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Voices

Archbishop José H. Gomez

This morning, Pope Francis named Bishop Robert McElroy, Auxiliary of San Francisco, to be the new Bishop of San Diego, which is one of the six dioceses that make up the Ecclesiastical Province of Los Angeles.